Tom Curran was given the brother of all wake-up calls at 4.30am when he checked his mobile phone – and discovered he had been called up by England.

Surrey all-rounder Curran, 21, was “giddy” after answering a call of nature on the Lions tour of Sri Lanka and finding a text from national selector James Whitaker inviting him to join the one-day squad in the West Indies as cover for the injured Jake Ball.

Cape Town-born Curran, son of the late Zimbabwe all-rounder Kevin Curran, waited until dawn had broken to wake up his younger brother Sam - who is also one of Surrey's rising stars, also on the Lions trip and also likely to play for England in the near future.

Curran's disturbed night was the inevitable consequence of refuelling with litres of water after the punishing heat of the Lions' narrow three-wicket defeat against Sri Lanka A in Dambulla on Monday.

He said: “I woke up about half past four and saw I had a message from James Whitaker on my phone. I thought I'd give it a quick read because he'd probably be saying well done on the series for the Lions.

Surrey's Tom Curran bowls during the Royal London One-Day Cup Final (Image: Getty Images Europe)

“I wasn't thinking very clearly at that time of the morning – but then I saw the words 'West Indies' and suddenly I was wide awake to say the least.

“Even after reading it a few times, I couldn't quite get to grips with it and I was trying to pinch myself to wake up. Put it this way, I didn't get back off to sleep – so thanks again for the message, James!”

Sam, 19, was first to know about his older sibling's summons to the Caribbean, and Tom revealed: “I waited until about 7am, and he wasn't very pleased to be woken up because it's our first day off, but he understood when I told him and he was as excited as me.

“I've felt in a good place with the ball over the last few months, which is where you want to be, but it's happened as quick as a text.

“I wasn't expecting it straight after the four-dayers, it's all pretty surreal right now. But I'm giddy, I can't wait to get out there.”